Dear Food and Wine Lover,

 

2 New Hot Culinary Vacations from Catalonia, Northern Spain.

 

4-day Paella and Rice Special...
The top 10 essential Spanish foods that you must try when you're in Spain. 

Spend 4 days savouring delicious dishes paired with local world-renown wines.  Here are the highlights:
Stay at Can Miquelet del Mano, 4th-generation family house built in stone located in the heart of the foremost red wine & olive producing region of Catalonia.
Welcome Tapas lunch.
2 cooking classes followed by a delicious dinner.
Paella class followed by dinner:  Paella Mixta, Arroz Negro, Fideua.
Visit 3 local wineries and experience the local Priorat wines and how they are made.
2 restaurant visits.
Private olive oil tasting.
Visit the Delta del Ebro rice fields, along with a restaurant lunch.
Rice class followed by dinner: Arroz con Rape y Alcachofas, Arroz con Conejo y Ceps.

 

2-day Barcelona Tour...

The 'real' Barcelona.

This is an opportunity to experience Barcelona after spending time at our Catalan Cooking holiday.  This Barcelona tour is enhanced by having a 'local' guide you through an "insiders' view of the culinary delights the city has to offer. Alicia, your host, chef, teacher, guide and friend will accompany you to Barcelona and spend two days showing you the culinary treats you wouldn't want to miss in this vibrant city!  The 2-day Barcelona visit as an option after the 3-day hands-on Catalan cooking and Priorat wine vacation in El Priorat.
Included are all restaurant meals, wines and drinks, 4 star hotel accommodation with breakfast for 2 nights, transport to the different locations, and Alicia's undivided attention and time!

Foodie's Corner.

Recipe of the Month.
Everyone loves crème brulee, this is Spain's version from our Catalan Cooking Holiday and it's delicious.  Make it for your mother and family and they'll love it (and you)!

 

Crema Catalana
Serves 6
4 cups milk (plus a little milk to dissolve cornstarch)
7 oz sugar
8 egg yolks
1 oz cornstarch
cinnamon stick (1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
1 zest of lemon
Bring the milk to a boil with the cinnamon and lemon zest. In another bowl mix together the sugar, egg yolks and the dissolved cornstarch. When the milk is boiling, remove from the heat and add in a slow stream to the mixture in the bowl, stirring with a whisk. Return the mixture to the saucepan and place it on low heat. When the 'crema' beings to bubble, turn off the heat. Pour the 'crema' into earthenware dishes and let it cool, then refrigerate. Before serving, sprinkle sugar on top of each 'crema' and carmelize with a hot iron. Chef's note: Always caramelize the sugar immediately before serving.  Buen Apetito!

 

Suggested Menu:
Serve with Spanish Hot Chocolate. Grate 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate into a bowl and cover it with a little of the 2/3 cup of boiling water. Mash the mixture into a paste. Add the rest of the water and 1 tsp vanilla, 3 tsp sugar plus a dash of cinnamon and beat with an electric mixer until frothy.  The chocolate will not totally dissolve and will have a grittiness to it.

Uncorked!
Exclusive Spanish Wine Offer.

 

Receive an impressive hand-picked selection of 6 premium Spanish wines to take home with you after experiencing a week in food heaven at our Catalan Cooking Holiday.  The Catalonia area of Northern Spain is one of the most inventive areas of the world in terms of cuisine and the wine deserves top marks too.  Experience the Catalan Cooking Holiday, featuring an incredible culinary adventure and take a 'delicious piece' of Spain back home with you.  The local Priorat region wines are out of this world. Since the area has undergone an incredible transformation, emerging during the 1990s from obscurity to worldwide success, it is now very well known for its wines.  And your hosts know the owners of the area wine estates, so the visits are personalized and interactive.  Click here to find out how to take a bottle of Spain home with you...

Trendspotting.

Ferran Adria and his famous restaurant, El Bulli in Northern Spain.

 

No, this isn't new, but I thought I'd mention this famous Chemist Chef because if you're going to be in Barcelona anyway, why not make a reservation at this highly acclaimed restaurant...

Ferran Adria has won the adulation of food critics and cooks by whipping up startling combinations of texture, temperature and taste: bite-size cuttlefish ravioli that explode in a burst of coconut and ginger, soft-boiled quail egg with a crispy caramel crust, a polenta of frozen powdered Parmesan cheese, almond ice cream on a swirl of garlic oil and balsamic vinegar.

Set on an isolated beach on Spain's Catalan coast near the town of Rosas, El Bulli has become a pilgrimage site for foodies brave enough to make the dizzying drive down for the experience -- not really a conventional meal but a series of 25 to 30 small courses, some no more than a bite-size morsel or slurp. They are presented on a silver spoon or on a stick or in a tiny fluted glass, often with suggestions about how things should be eaten -- in one go, in separate bites or in a certain order.

In line with Adrià's experimental philosophy, he closes El Bulli for six months every year in order to travel abroad, in search of new inspiration and ideas with which to astonish his diners. And amazed they are. Adrià, who has been called "the Salvador Dali of the kitchen," has won global acclaim as one of the most creative and inventive culinary geniuses in the world.

The restaurant is booked up a year in advance, so start planning today at El Bulli's web site.

To find out more about any of our culinary vacations please feel free to call me at 416.238.9987 (Toronto) or 1.800.839.5795 (in North America).  Email works well too at jackie@gourmetsafari.com. 

 

Gastronomically, Jackie

 

Gourmet Safari supports BREAKFAST FOR LEARNING - proceeds from every culinary vacation go to this special charity.

 

PS: Please help save the environment by recycling this email -- help spread the word and forward it to all your friends!